Much More
Cintra went up in flames in the aftermath of the Nilfgaard attack. Geralt remained in the castle, still in search of Princess Cirilla. He left the kingdom after realizing that she was already gone. During his travels, he came across a decimated Cintran refugee camp. There, he crossed paths with a merchant named Yurga, giving them a proper burial. Geralt sensed danger and advised the man to leave the grounds. Instead, Yurga stayed to ensure the bodies are properly laid to rest. In doing so, he was attacked by glowing eyed creatures, who emerged from the ground underneath his feet. Luckily, Geralt returned to save Yurga. But he is bitten in the process of slaying the creatures. The bite took effect almost instantly, and Geralt passed out. Ciri awakened in the field to find Zola standing over her and the Cintrans who attacked her all dead. Zola helped Ciri to her feet and brought her home with her. Approximately 60 mages, Yennefer, Tissaia, Triss, Vilgefortz, Vanielle, Coral, and Sabrina included, board a ship headed for Sodden Hill. They must get to the Elven keep that guards it before Nilfgaard does. They had already sent word to the Northern kingdoms. Temeria and Kaedwen agreed to join them in defending the land. The plan was to protect the keep. Once on land, Yennefer questioned Nilfgaard’s strategy of sacking Cintra and exposing themselves. Vilgefortz explained that the bigger picture was often left for history. They’re task was much clearing. Hold Sodden and save the continent. Yennefer, Tissaia, Triss, Vilgefortz, Vanielle, Coral, and Sabrina arrive at the keep. The only thing separating Nilfgaard from the North. They were greeted by a man. Yennefer advised him to take the children and hide, but as he explained, there was no more hiding from Nilfgaard. Their only chance was to fight. The mages and the townspeople prepared for the arrival of Nilfgaard. Casting spells and inventorying their weaponry. Yennefer recalled Triss spending time in Temeria and asked if she truly believed that King Foltest would bring the Northern armies. Triss trusted that he would come through after she and Geralt helped save his daughter, who was cursed as a striga. Tissaia and Yennefer discussed Nilfgaard’s encroachment and the need to enjoy the night while they could. Yennefer noticed that Tissaia had taken a liking to Vilgefortz. Tissaia looked to her and asked if she’s ready to die should they fail to stop Nilfgaard. Yennefer claimed that she is, having live several life times, none of which satisfied her, Tissaia remarked. Yennefer had accepted that life had no more to give. However, Tissaia argues that Yennefer still had more to give. After discovering that the Brotherhood was fortifying they keep, Fringilla reported back to Cahir to alert him of their arrival. The field Marshall recommended that they fall back, but Fringilla desired to move forward with the plan. This is their chance to honor the White Flame. Cahir refused to lose Princess Cirilla and ordered Fringilla to tests the Brotherhood’s defenses. Zola’s son, Nadbor, wasn’t as welcoming to Ciri as his mother. He surmised that she was trying to out run the war and that his mom was a bleeding heart. She felt bad for Ciri so she took her in. Zola smacks him in the head and asked Ciri to teach her son some manners. Suddenly, a fire ball could be seen shooting across the sky, signaling Nilfgaard’s arrival. Yennefer awakened to find a fire ball fired by Nilfgaard coming straight for her. She halted the fire ball mid-air and then redirected it. Just up the mountain, Fringilla was leading the assault on Sodden Hill. She ordered her mages to keep attacking, but with each attacker, the Brotherhood deflected. Fringilla then conjured up a small box to hand to a mage, who she ordered to draw the mages out. The sun has risen and the Northern mages made it through the night. Unfortunately, Nilfgaard arrived much soon than they anticipated and the Northern armies were still a ways out. There are only 22 of them left, Yennefer, Tissaia, Triss, Vilgefortz, Vanielle, Coral, Atlan Kerk, and Sabrina included. They witnessed as a thick fog consumed the mountains around them, signaling Nilfgaard’s encroachment. Tissaia ordered Sabrina to take the villagers to the artillery room while she and Triss head down. Yennefer was instructed to keep watch on the tower and reserve her chaos. Yurga travelled through the woods of Sodden Hill with Geralt going in and out of consciousness on the back of his carriage. The ghoul bite made him delirious, but he was still alive. In his delirious state, Geralt recalled moments with his mother, where she instilled in him a moral code. “We must live and let live.” Yennefer watched from the tower as Nilfgaard’s army approached. She telepathically communicated with the others to alert them of Nilfgaard’s arrival. Tissaia guided Triss to an open field, where she proceeded to make mushrooms grow out the ground that when inhaled, its gases caused the Nilfgaardians to die. On the opposite side, Coral is faced with dozens of soldiers, all of which she incapacitated with a single hang gesture, though not with out cost, as her nosed bled. Sabrina led the archers from within the castle. The villagers packed blue meteorite into bottles and launched them into the sky. Sabrina and the others shot the bottles with arrows, causing massive explosions, taking out the Nilfgaard army below. Fringilla and Cahir watched from the top of the hill as their men are taken out by the brotherhood. They are forced to move to the other front. On Yennefer’s command, Vilgefortz portalled to Cahir’s destination, taking out half a dozen soldiers before getting to Cahir. During the fight, Vilgefortz was disarmed multiple times, each time using magic to return his sword, despite Yennefer’s warnings to reserve his chaos. Vilgefortz is bested by Cahir and with his chaos depleted, Cahir kicks him off the hill. Cahir rolls down the hill and hits his head on a tree stump. Fringilla guided eight of her own archers into a clearing in the woods, where she opened a portal that they fired arrows through, killing Vanielle and several others. The wizard who Fringilla entrusted with the box had made it through the gates, and while it may have costed him his life, the box was delivered. It opened, releasing dozen upon dozens of silver worms. Tissaia confronted Fringilla in the woods. She offered her a way out of she would willingly return to Aretuza. Fringilla laughed. She then explained that Nilfgaard was able to take Cintra after a horrible storm, where fifty Skelligen ships sunk to the bottom of the sea. Wrecked in a horrible fog caused by her. She then incapacitated Tissaia by throwing dimeritium in her face. Geralt awakened on the back of Yurga’s carriage. He inquired about the explosions, and Yurga informed that that Nilfgaard was attacking Sodden. Geralt then drunk a black elixir from his bag and poured some on his wound. He then requested that Yurga take him to the Blue Mountains, where someone would be able to save him. In his delusional state, he recalled more memories with his mother. With him on the back of the carriage that she steered. She stopped and ask him to get water from a nearby creek. By the time he returned, his mother was gone, but Vesemir was waiting for him. Yennefer watched from the tower Nilfgaard had broken through their forces. She telepathically guided Coral back to the keep. After watching Atlan get struck down by an arrow, Coral decided to stop running. She tried to perform a spell, but is killed before she can. Atlan as well. Triss barricaded the front gate with vines to prevent Nilfgaard from penetrating. Sabrina had been taken over. The silver parasites that slithered out of the box had gone into her ear, as well as the ears of two villager boys. She handed them two bottles of explosive blue meteorites. While protecting the gate from the Nilfgaard army, Triss was burned in the chest by a fire torch, which also allowed for Nilfgaard to burn through her vines forged around the door. Sabrina sneaked up behind Yennefer and stab her in the abdomen with an arrow . The two young boys, also under the control of the parasites take their bottles of blue meteorite and drops them on the table filled with blue meteorite, causing a massive explosion on both ends of the keep that sent Yennefer and Sabrina flying off the tower, though the former managed to stick the landing. The fall appeared to return Sabrina to her normal self as she apologized for attacking Yennefer. Yennefer limps out the keep, force to be witness the massacre that has unfolded as villagers of all ages lay dead on the grounds of Sodden Hill. She telepathically calls out to her fellow mages without response, telling them to hold the front line as more Nilfgaardians approach. Although, Triss seemed to survive the initial attack, she was still too wounded to battle. She killed two of them as they were tying an armless Coral to a tree. Fringilla intercepted Yennefer’s message. She told Yennefer to stop fighting and join Nilfgaard. However, Yennefer stayed true to her belief. Vilgefortz awakened one the woods to find dozens of dead Nilfgaardians and a wounded comrade. Instead of saving him, Vilgefortz bashed his head in with a mace. Tissaia woke up in the darkness to Yennefer’s call, shivering and weak. Still infected by his ghoulish bite, Geralt’s condition worsened. He began hallucinating Renfri and Yennefer. Lastly, he hallucinated his mother, Visenna. She explained that he was saved by his pulse. Which was four times slower than that of a normal man’s. She heard a merchant’s cry for help and healing is her profession. She said to him “people linked by destiny will always find each other.” A phrase his mother once said to him. Geralt grew so angry at the sight of her. He asked if she liked his eyes and if she knew what they did to witchers to improve their eyes. It didn’t always work. Only three out of ten boys survive the trial to become a Witcher. He questioned if his mother knew this when she gave him up to Vesemir. He realized that she trusted destiny rather than trying tot find him herself. She told him not to ask anymore questions as the answers would only hurt them both. Instead, she urged Geralt to find Princess Cirilla. Geralt awakened from his sleep, asking Yurga where the woman went, but she was never actually there. He then asked for how far is Yurga’s house from Sodden, to which he replied an hour on a swift enough horse. Geralt hopped on the back of Yurga’s home, and from there, Sodden. While Yurga’s can’t repay Geralt for saving his life, he can offer him the Law of Surprise. Yennefer reunited with Tissaia on the hillside. Tissaia had been severely weekend, but with the Northern armies close, Yennefer refused to give up. She looked Tissaia in the eyes and for the first time admitted that Tissaia saved her. It’s now Yennefer’s turn to save the continent. Tissaia urged her to let her chaos explode. Yennefer got back to her feet, absorbed the fire that was consuming the keep and unleashed it all on the Nilfgaard army. Just moments after Yennefer set the Nilfgaardian soldiers ablaze, King Foltest arrived with the Northern armies. Cahir watched from a distance as his army went up in flames. Zola tucked Ciri into bed and assured her that everything would be fine. Zola had lived a simple life up to that point. But she’d had everything she could’ve ever wanted, except for a daughter. She believed it was destiny that led her to Ciri. Ciri had a dream of Tissaia and Geralt calling out to Yennefer, though they could see nothing for miles save for the charred ashes of Sodden Hill. Ciri then woke from her dream, recalling her grandmother telling her to find Geralt of Rivia, as he is her destiny. That morning, Ciri crept out of the house and ran into the woods in search of Geralt. Yurga arrived home with Geralt on his back carriage. As it turned out, Zola was his wife. Zola told Yurga how she met an orphan girl in the woods nearby. Hearing Yurga’s conversation with his wife reminded Geralt of Renfri telling him to find the “girl in the woods.” Geralt jumps off the back off the carriage and into the woods, where he met Ciri for the first time, as she ran into his arms. “People linked by destiny will always find each other”, he says to Ciri. She then asked who is Yennefer.